The love story that helped Stephen Hawking reach for the stars: Eddie Redmayne stars in provocative film about physicist's 25-year marriage to first wife

Eddie Redmayne had books on Albert Einstein and James Dean in his dressing room when he took on the part of Professor Stephen Hawking in a film about the physicist’s unconventional 25-year love affair with his first wife.

The actor, who shot to stardom in the movie musical Les Miserables, explained that Einstein and Dean were brilliant in their fields and idols to women.

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True love: Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane, pictured together in the 1960s

Redmayne heard about the script by
Anthony McCarten and coveted the part once he knew James Marsh was
directing and that Working Title chiefs Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan were
to produce it with Lisa Bruce.

As
soon as Redmayne secured the role he started research for his very
physical transformation — Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone
disease in 1963 just before his 21st birthday.

‘He
was given two years to live and that made him determined,’ says
Redmayne. ‘How does someone get that kind of diagnosis and choose to
live that kind of life? He chose to live life with a twinkle in his
eye.’

Unconventional: The couple pictured together in 1974 as Hawking's illness begins to take its toll

The actor gathered a team around him that
included a choreographer, vocal coach, make-up designer, costume
designer and medical consultants.

He got permission to meet with MND
patients at a clinic in London, and later visited some of them at their
homes so he could observe their mobility, speech and temperament.

Using
photographs and documentary footage, Redmayne — working with Alex
Reynolds, a movement specialist and choreographer — charted Hawking’s
physical disintegration over 20 years as he became paralysed and lost
the ability to speak.

Now: The Duke of Edinburgh (left) greets Professor Stephen Hawking (right) during a reception for Leonard Cheshire Disability in the State Rooms, St James's Palace last month

‘It’s
been unlike anything I’ve ever done, and when you’re portraying someone
as formidable as Hawking, you feel a responsibility to portray it as a
real condition and not make it up. My body was manipulated into
different shapes in front of a mirror to match what happened to him.’

Redmayne certainly suffered for his art — during filming he made regular visits to an osteopath.

Also,
because his mouth was realigned for his portrait of Hawking, make-up
stylist Jan Sewell noticed he was developing extra cheek muscles on one
side.

The film’s more a love story than a picture about Hawking’s extraordinary achievements. ‘You could say it’s about the limits of love,’ observed McCarten, the screenwriter who took nine years to persuade Jane to entrust him with her story.

He added: ‘Stephen lately acknowledged that he couldn’t have achieved what he did without her. She gave him a balanced life, and from that platform he was able to concentrate on unlocking the secrets of the universe.

‘Jane was this woman in the background literally doing the heavy lifting while he was in the spotlight.

‘In her book, she showed the complete Stephen Hawking because until then you couldn’t comprehend how he could function. She shone a light into the little shady corners.’

McCarten and Marsh had to come up with visual metaphors to explain the complexities of black hole theory and quantum this and that.

On the day I visited the set, Felicity’s Jane was explaining to Charlie Cox (playing Jonathan Hellyer Jones, who would become her second husband) as much as she could about quantum physics — using a potato and some peas.

I have seen some footage and it’s an uplifting, inspirational love story about a bright, shining couple played by two luminous actors.

The movie opens on January 1, though it may be screened at one of the big autumn film festivals, and it certainly looks as if it’s going to feature in the next awards season.